Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A nonpartisan web site that routinely serves as a watchdog for public officials, the media and political groups says President Barack Obama has it wrong. FactCheck.org says the current health care plans pending in Congress do authorize abortion funding, contrary to Obama's claims otherwise.

"Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plan," the web site concludes.

At issue are concerns from pro-life groups that the government-run health care plans would include abortion funding and coverage. Obama has said they don't and gone as far as accusing pro-life groups of lying about the legislation.

The FactCheck web site, run by staff at the University of Pennsylvania, says "it's true that House and Senate legislation would allow a new 'public' insurance plan to cover abortions." The House bill does so "despite" the addition of the Capps amendment that pro-abortion lawmakers say prohibits abortion funding.

"Obama has said in the past that 'reproductive services' would be covered by his public plan, so it’s likely that any new federal insurance plan would cover abortion unless Congress expressly prohibits that," FactCheck adds.

That mirrors what National Right to Life and other pro-life groups have said, with NRLC legislative director Douglas Johnson explaining, "the bill backed by the White House (H.R. 3200) explicitly authorizes the government plan to cover all elective abortions."

As a woman, I know that this has affected me personally. My first and my last Cesareans were done purely for medicolegal reasons. They had nothing to do with my ability to birth my baby naturally. And even though my first Cesarean was 20 years ago, it seems not much has changed. Recently one of my young friends, a mom in her 20s was pressured into having another Cesarean because her doctor simply wouldn't here of her trying a natural labor and delivery.

So this is the type of issue that affects the lives of women on a very personal and real level today!! And it's one President Obama needs to address this evening.

Linda Lipsen, senior vice president of public affairs with the American Association for Justice, said those figures mean tort reform just isn't worth it.

"The current health care debate is focused on two tenets: lowering costs while improving care and covering the uninsured," Lipsen said. "Changing the legal system will not accomplish these goals and only make it harder for those injured by medical negligence, through no fault of their own, to seek legal recourse."

However, the CBO estimate did not account for defensive spending, which most proponents say eats up the real costs. In its 2003 report, HHS estimated that, between malpractice costs and defensive medicine, reasonable tort reforms would save the federal government between $28.1 billion and $50.6 billion a year. Projected out over 10 years, that's far more than CBO-estimated savings for replacing fee-for-service with bundled payments ($18.6 billion), setting up a health IT system ($34 billion) or a tax on the wealthy or insurance companies (about $100 billion).

"Even if it costs 2 cents, why wouldn't we want to eliminate those costs?" asked Darren McKinney, a spokesman for the American Tort Reform Association. "In the grand scheme of things, it's not the mother lode of costs, but it's certainly not insignificant."

A strong argument can be made for the proposition that Senator Kennedy should not have been allowed a Catholic funeral-- not because of his personal failings, but because his public stands put him in conflict with the Church. Unlike private sins, which can be absolved in sacramental Confession, serious public sins require some form of public amendment, to address the scandal that they create. Ted Kennedy never recanted his support for abortion, and so he remained in open conflict with his Church. To allow a public funeral for him meant allowing for the perception that the Church is not really serious about the abortion issue, and thus creating a new public scandal.

A "lost opportunity?" A "great disappointment?" The cardinal's language suggests that Kennedy's failure lay only in what he failed to do to save the lives of the unborn. In fact, Senator Kennedy never lost any opportunity to advance the cause of unrestricted abortion on demand. He compiled a "perfect" 100% voting record, as judged by the abortion industry. He savaged Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, denouncing the legal scholar especially for his pro-life views. He accepted the "Champion of Choice" award from the National Abortion Rights Action League. During his wake at Boston's Kennedy Library, a woman wearing a "fetal feet" lapel pin was stopped at the door and informed that pro-lifers would not be allowed to view the Senator's casket.

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX, September 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Rene Henry Gracida, retired Roman Catholic Bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas has denounced the "scandal" of the Kennedy funeral. Writing on his blog, Bishop Gracida said, "There was so much wrong with the funeral liturgy celebrated in Boston last Saturday for Senator Edward Moore Kennedy that I hardly know where to begin."

If a Catholic is engaged in politics, the Church has a right and a duty to request coherence from this person. If, regrettably, this Catholic refuses to be coherent, the Church has the right and the duty to refuse him the reception of the Holy Eucharist as it is established in Canon 915: "Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion."

In the same way that publicly incoherent Catholics might be denied communion, these persons can also be denied ecclesiastical funeral rites. The Code of Canon Law establishes, Can. "1184 §1. Unless they gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals: 3/ other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful."

We are informed by the press that the person who received the recent funeral in Boston gave some signs of repentance; but those signs were not specific at all with regards to the many grave and public violations that he committed against the teachings of the Church. Even if the signs of repentance would have been judged sufficient by competent local ecclesiastical authority, the problem of the scandal remains because the ordinary of the place where the funeral was officiated could not have been ignorant that the funeral was going to be turned into a celebration of the life of that particular person.

Here we should also remember the norm of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal that establishes: "382. At the Funeral Mass there should, as a rule, be a short homily, but never a eulogy of any kind." There is ample public evidence provided by the press that this norm was not respected in a recent Boston funeral and that fact is in itself a reasonable source of scandal.

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It seems that one of the biggest events in confirmation preparation in this country is the letters of support to be given to the confirmation candidates during their mandatory retreats.

I have three such letters saved on this blog:

Confirmation letter to my daughterConfirmation letter to my fourth sonConfirmation letter to to my third son
I've asked my children what they remember about the letter they got from me and their dad, and also what they remembered about the letters they received.
The answer was not much, or at least nothing specific. In general they were happy to have gotten a bag full of letters and there was a sense of feeling loved and supported. I guess that's the main thing - for them to have a sense that this is an important step in their spiritual growth, and that people they know, love and respect have taken the time out of their lives to let them know that!
So here are some tips on procuring and writing letters for young confirmation candidates. Start thinkin…

March 5 and 6, 2010
My Dearest Gabe;
I can’t express to you enough what a wonderful gift you have been to your father and me from the very moment you were born. You have always been such a beautiful, good natured, fun loving and enjoyable baby, little boy and now young man. I am so proud of you and so honored to be your mother.

You know Gabe, you have always been a big guy. When I was pregnant with you the midwife was always amazed at how big you were getting inside of my stomach. And when you came out (with much effort!) you were as big as some 3 month olds! You have stayed ahead of the curve in size for kids your age. I think it is because God has given you a big heart. You are so full of love and joy you needed a big heart to keep it all in and a big body to hold it all. You are my gentle giant.

I know God has a special plan for you and I look forward to helping you figure out what that might be. Always hang on to the memory of these times, remember all that your father and I…

In a few weeks you will be confirmed as a full member of the Catholic Church. Congratulations! I know that you have really worked hard to understand and learn as much about your Catholic faith as you could before receiving this sacrament.
On your retreat there are a few things your Dad and I would like you to remember -

You were our fourth son in a row but you have always been a unique little boy. I love your bright blue eyes, all of those freckles and dimples. I guess God really wanted you to tap into your Celtic Heritage!

I love how you are always ready with a quick smile for everyone.

I loved how even when you were a baby you would cry when a baby on t.v. was crying, or if a kid outside was crying or basically when you saw anyone crying - you didn't even have to know why - you just did. That's great empathy and you still have that today. Don't lose that. It's a great gift to be able to relate to people even when they are at their lowest.15 R…

This is from a discussion I participated on over at the now defunct Birth Control and Catholic Church Forum aka the boardIlovetocommenton. This was a very pro-contraception, dissident Catholic discussion board. I originally posted this on January 21, 2004. Their points initalics, and my responses are highlighted.

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One key point we keep making on the discussions is about how and why the sex act is actually used by married couples, and in this sense, there is absolutely no difference between NFP and ABC in the acts couples make use of (assuming they're using NFP to avoid conception). I would disagree. The is a key element in the practicing Catholic couple's use of NFP in the marital act, is their respectful understanding and acceptance of the teaching of the Catholic Church as well as their submission to that in obedience to Christ's teaching. This is something that is fundamentally missing from the marital act with artificial contraception.

I cannot believe that you are old enough to make your confirmation!! The time has flown by for me! When I was growing up, I always wondered what my own daughter would be like. And I was sure that I would have a daughter because I was the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter!

But after having your four brothers in a row, even I was beginning to have my doubts! But God had you in the plan after all!

I was amazed when you were born - at your beauty and femininity -at just at how lucky we were to have you!

You were a special surprise too because you came only 15 months after your brother Noah! But as hard as it was having two babies at the same time, I love how close you two have always been, and grateful that you would always have each other to love and count on.

Of course you know you were named for your grandpa Isadore - whom I sure you would have loved very much. In some ways you are very much like him - quietly keeping things to …

God's Not Dead is an uplifting and enjoyable Christian-based movie appropriate for students from elementary school through college and their parents. We went with two of my teenage children and my 8-year-old daughter and we all enjoyed the movie and have had many discussions about it since.

We enjoyed it as a family, but I would also recommend this movie for church youth groups and homeschooling groups. I hope to buy the DVD when it comes out to donate it to our parish.

The premise of the movie involves a freshman philosophy student's challenge to defend the existence of God to his adversarial and intimidating philosophy teacher and his classmates. The stories of other characters (a preacher, a selfish business man, a young woman caring for her mother with dementia, a successful blogger who faces a devastating diagnosis, and a Muslim convert to Christianity) are woven into the plot line until they are…